Center To Provide Investment Tips

Peggy Winklemann, of Winklemann Asset Management, will introduce students to the basics of investing, including terminology, techniques and best practices on Wednesday (Jan. 26).

“Investing in Your Future,” part of the Student Money Management Center’s Lunch Skills Workshop Series, will be from noon to 1 p.m. in Lowman Student Center Room 315, part of the Student Money Management Center's Lunch Skills Workshop Series.

“Investing, whether it be an IRA, 401K or other retirement planning and investing programs, is best to start early,” said Jacki Brossman-Ashorn, assistant director for the Student Money Management Center and Bearkat OneCard Services Office.

“The younger you are when you begin saving and investing, the more money you will have when you reach retirement age. It’s simple math,” she said. “Due to compounding interest, the longer your money is held the more it grows.”

One of the goals of the “Lunch Skills” series is to educate students on these kinds of topics and “get them excited about saving and investing,” Brossman said.

“We want them to understand that it’s never too early to start building their financial future,” she said. “Most Americans wait until they’re older to start worrying about retirement and building wealth, thus decreasing the total income they could potentially make.

“We held a similar event in the fall of 2009, and had great attendance and a wonderful response from students. It’s often a confusing topic, and Peggy does an awesome job of breaking it down and making it easy to understand,” Brossman said. “Students have requested she come back and do another investing presentation. We’re happy we were able to make that happen.”

Course To Prep Immigrants For Citizenship Exam

The Political Science Junior Fellows and the Huntsville Public Library will guide immigrants through the citizenship process, from eligibility and paperwork to interviews and the American Naturalization Exam during their fourth preparation course.

The free, five-week course will begin on Feb. 7 and will be held on Monday nights through March 7.

The program will begin with an overview of the process, followed by classes that focus on the United States’ governmental structure and history, and ending with a recap and “Thanksgiving Dinner,” with immigrants and volunteers bringing meals indigenous to their country of origin.

“For immigrants, citizenship is part of the American Dream,” said junior fellows president Dana Angello, “This program is a way to help immigrants achieve that dream legally and efficiently.”

Sessions will alternate between a classroom-style setting, with lectures by SHSU political science professor Mike Yawn, and small-group tutoring conducted by the Political Science Junior Fellows and staff from the Huntsville Public Library.

“It’s a unique program,” Yawn said. “It provides immigrants with a better understanding of the United States, while also giving the student volunteers a chance to learn more about the world.”

Over the past three years more than 60 immigrants from approximately 20 different countries have participated in the preparatory program, including Pakistan, England, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, The Netherlands, Germany and Columbia.

Several of the participants have gone on to obtain their citizenship, according to junior fellow Janette Uribe.
One such participant, Mazhar Mahmood, earned his citizenship on Sept. 22, 2010.

It was, he said, “one of the greatest days of my life.”

Noting that he had never achieved full citizenship in his native country of Pakistan, he was impressed that the United States offered him a “fair” chance to be a citizen “The United States is the greatest country,” he said.

The program is designed for immigrants with at least an intermediate command of the English language.

Faculty Artists To Open Semester With Exhibit

The creative works of 20 artists who teach in SHSU’s art department will be on display in the Gaddis Geeslin Gallery beginning Monday (Jan. 24).

The 51st Annual SHSU Art Faculty Exhibit will be on display through Feb. 10.

The exhibit will include a variety of mediums, according to Debbie Harper, art department audio/visual librarian.

“The 2011 Faculty Exhibition will include one-to-three works that demonstrate each faculty member’s creative research over the past year,” she said. “All tenured, tenure-track, visiting professors and adjunct faculty teaching more than two courses in a studio area will be included.”

A Visiting Faculty Lecture Series presentation featuring Kathy Kelley will be held on Thursday (Jan. 27) at 5 p.m. in the Art Auditorium, located in Art Building E Room 108. The lecture will be followed by the exhibit’s opening reception from 6-7 p.m. in the Gaddis Geeslin Gallery.

The Gaddis Geeslin Gallery is located in the SHSU Art Complex Room 101, in Art Building F.
It is open Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m.

Other faculty lectures held in conjunction with the exhibit include Bill Davenport, who will speak on Feb. 3 at 5 p.m. and Tudor Mitroi, who will speak on Feb. 8 at 5 p.m.

Trio Of Concerts To Highlight Faculty Musicians

The SHSU School of Music will present three faculty-led concerts beginning Monday (Jan. 24) with a recital featuring adjunct trombone instructor Ben Osborn.

"Old, new, borrowed, and blue for unmarried trombone" will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center Recital Hall.

The concert, which will also feature collaborative piano studies coordinator Ilonka Rus, will include unaccompanied works for trombone borrowed from Bach and by Bernstein, as well as works for trombone and piano by K. Serocki, Jules Massanet, and Austin-based composer Randol Alan Bass.

Beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the PAC Recital Hall, the performance will open with “a wonderful work by Donald Draganski,” “Six Songs on Mother Goose Rhymes” for soprano and woodwinds, according to Card.

“The movements are based on popular children's rhymes such as ‘Peter Peter, Pumpkin Eater,’” she said.

The second work, “Thing-a-ma-jig” by Nikola Resanovic, features a woodwind quartet.

“This work is a little more contemporary but highly accessible,” Card said. “The final selection is a work by Poulenc for standard woodwind quintet and piano. This large work is one of the few pieces written for quintet and piano and we are very excited to present this work to the audience.”

Finally, on Thursday, horn professor Peggy DeMers, her husband and past SHSU faculty member Peter Kempter, and Rus will pay homage to couples with works written for the horn and cello at 7:30 p.m. in the PAC Recital Hall.

“It will be an evening of music written for Dr. DeMers and Kempter (horn and cello) and other couples who perform horn and cello,” DeMers said.

Works that will be played include “3 Songs for Marlboro” by New Mexico composer David Amran, which “integrates jazz idioms as well as late 20th century American style,” and Nicole Buetti's “Insieme” (Italian for “together, a couple”), which was written for DeMers and Kempter “as an outgrowth of their relationship with the composer at the Assisi summer festival in Italy where she and Kempter are on the faculty,” DeMers said.

“Postcards” by Roger Jannotta was written for DeMers and Kempter in 2005, she said.

“Jannotta is the composer and arranger for the Munich Symphony orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra,” DeMers said. “This is an eclectic work that utilizes many advanced techniques unique to the performing couple combining jazz and 20th century.”

Athletics Launches GoBearkats.com Redesign

The Athletic Department recently completed an 18-month process to redesign GoBearkats.com, the official website for SHSU athletics.

One of the new features of the site is an expanded presence of video content. Up to 12 videos can be featured at one time on the front page, according to Jason Barfield, athletics department media services coordinator.

Expanded online ticketing features are also available, with a “choose your seat” option and the ability to see a photo of the arena from that seat location. A donor management feature will be added soon.

The department is in the process of extending its contract with web developer Neulion for an additional three years. SHSU first re-launched GoBearkats.com with Neulion in 2006 and immediately began taking advantage of the live video streaming and ticketing features. This new site will enhance those features.

Spring Graduation Applications Due Feb. 3

Students who anticipate graduating in May must file degree applications by Feb. 3 with the Registrar’s Office.

Those who fail to apply by the deadline will be assessed a $25 late application fee in addition to the $25 graduation fee.

Students can apply online through SamWeb by going to “Student Records” and selecting “Application for Degree” from the drop down menu. Online payments can be made with MasterCard, Visa or American Express.

“A History of Crime and Criminal Justice in America” provides an overview of the origin and development of the American criminal justice system, from the founding of Jamestown, the first English settlement, and tracing history to the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

This book explains the public policy process and applies it directly to crime and criminal justice, describing each of the various actors in the public policy process at the federal, state and local level and illustrating how policy and politics impact criminal justice.

Oliver said he is very grateful for the timing of the leave as it allowed him to clear the three book projects off his plate.

He has obtained two more book contracts; his plans are to write and publish them one at a time, he said.

James’s first book was published in December by The John Hopkins University Press.

“It’s about ‘night,’ ‘light,’ ‘stuff,’ ‘gravity,’ ‘time,’ ‘home’ and ‘wonder,’” she said. “It’s for people who have absolutely no knowledge of science at all but think that it’s kind of interesting.

“Every chapter basically starts out with a little kid asking their parents something like why it gets dark at night,” James said. “The chapter goes into the simple answer, then a slightly more complicated answer, an ‘I’ll bet you never considered this problem’ answer, and finally gets to the level of why is space dark.”

The book has been described as a cross between Dave Barry and PBS “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” narrator and co-writer Carl Sagan.

“It’s fun to read,” James said. “I actually got my parents to read it, and I got my 11-year-old son, who’s now 12, to read it and he understood it.”

Paperback copies of the book will be available for $25, and “we promise to personalize them with clever witticisms.”

Team Ranks 10th In National Stunt Contest

Two members of SHSU’s co-ed cheerleading squad were recently the first to represent the university in the Universal Cheerleading Association’s Co-Ed Partner Stunts competition.

The competition was held at Walt Disney World’s Wide World of Sport in Orlando Jan. 14-16.

Junior kinesiology major Jesse Wallace and junior psychology major Rochell Garza placed 10th in the final partner stunts results, out of 32 submissions to the competition. Nineteen couples travelled to Orlando for the contest.

"I was very excited to have the opportunity this year to represent Sam Houston at the United Cheerleading Association's national partner stunt competition,” Wallace said. “It was an incredible experience, and the fact that we ranked 10th in the nation is awesome considering no one from Sam Houston has ever competed in this event. I am excited to see what the co-ed cheer team will be able to do next year at nationals, and I can't wait to be a part of it."

“Being the first to compete at UCA partner stunt for Sam Houston was an amazing privilege,” Garza said. “I was honored to receive the opportunity to go out and make a name for Sam Houston, and it was a great accomplishment for our spirit program."

Calendar Information Sought For Spring

The University Communications Office is currently collecting information on campus events for its spring calendar pages.

Send your departmental calendars or events to today@sam.edu or jenniferg@shsu.edu, or by fax to 294.1834. Please include the date, location and time of the event, as well as a brief description and a contact person.

It is requested that information be sent to the office (to Julia, Jennifer or through the e-mail link on Today@Sam) a minimum of a full week in advance in order to make necessary contacts and write a story.